Long - Term Trophic Interactions of Wolves and Moose on Isle Royale

在北美苏必利尔湖（Lake Superior）的一个544平方公里的岛屿——皇家岛国家公园（Isle Royale National Park），人们从1959年开始对狼和驼鹿进行研究，这是世界上这种强度的最长的捕食者-猎物研究。皇家岛的生物地理（偏远的岛屿）和管理（没有狩猎或诱捕野生动物，没有森林管理）是重要的独特之处。在其45年的历史中，该研究为种群生态学的基本方面提供了有价值的见解。在未来5年，狼、驼鹿和植被的动态和相互作用将继续成为研究的重点，重点研究以下三个方面：在这个相当简单的生态系统中，营养水平之间的生态关系；在这个小而孤立的种群中，狼近亲繁殖抑制的意义；以及狼和驼鹿寄生虫对它们动态平衡的影响。从人类诞生之初到现在，灰狼和人类一直在争夺家养和野生猎物，这导致了在北半球范围内过度热心但成功的消灭这种重要食肉动物的运动。灰狼在20世纪50年代达到历史最低点后，通过自然恢复和美国政府的引进计划，灰狼的数量得到了扩大，很快就会从联邦保护的濒危物种名单中删除。狼的恢复将对人类经济以及几十年甚至几个世纪以来没有狼的生态系统产生重大影响。在皇家岛上对这一物种及其猎物的长期研究有助于扩大对狼行为和生态学的了解，对公众舆论产生了很大影响。皇家岛提供了一个关键的地点，实际上是唯一的地点，在那里狼在整个生态系统中的生态作用可以在没有重大人类影响的情况下展开，从而提供了一个有用的自然生态动态基线。

ABSTRACTThe wolves and moose of Isle Royale National Park, an island (544 km 2 ) in Lake Superior (North America), have been under study since 1959, in the longest predator-prey study of such intensity in the world. Isle Royale's biogeography (remote island) and management (no hunting or trapping of wildlife, no forest management) are important unique features. During its 45-year history, this research has contributed valuable insights to fundamental aspects of population ecology. In the next five years the dynamics and interactions of wolves, moose, and vegetation will continue to be the primary focus for research, with the following three emphases: ecological relationships between trophic levels in this rather simple ecosystem, significance of inbreeding depression among wolves in this small, isolated population, and effects of wolf and moose parasites on their dynamic equilibrium. Gray wolves and humans have competed over domestic and wild prey from the dawn of humanity to the present, which led to overzealous but successful campaigns throughout the Northern Hemisphere to eliminate this important carnivore. After reaching a historic low point in the 1950s, the gray wolf has expanded through natural recovery and introduction programs by the U.S. government such that it will soon be removed from the list of federally-protected Endangered Species. Wolf recovery will significantly affect human economies as well as ecosystems that have been wolf-free for decades, even centuries. Long-term research on this species and its prey at Isle Royale has contributed to expanded knowledge of wolf behavior and ecology, with a large impact on public opinion. Isle Royale provides a key site, indeed the only site, where the ecological role of the wolf in an entire ecosystem can unfold without significant human influence, thereby providing a useful baseline of natural ecological dynamics.